Lady in The Lake Trial

The Lady in the Lake trial was a 2005 murder case in which Gordon Park (25 January 1944 – 25 January 2010) a retired teacher from Leece, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, was jailed for life for the murder of his first wife, Carol Ann Park, in 1976.

Carol Park went missing on 17 July 1976, and was never seen alive again by her family. In 1997, her body was discovered at the bottom of Coniston Water and Gordon was arrested on suspicion of murder. The charges were subsequently dropped but in 2004 Gordon was arrested again and found guilty of his wife's murder. The trial judge sentenced him to life imprisonment and recommended that he should serve a minimum of 15 years before being considered for parole. He was held at Garth prison, Leyland, Preston. In December 2007 he lodged an appeal against his conviction which was dismissed in November 2008. On 25 January 2010, he was found hanged in his cell, and pronounced dead at the scene.

The details of the murder are sketchy. Carol was killed by her face being smashed by a blunt object of some sort, alleged in court to have been an ice axe. She was then bound with rope, using complex knots, weighed down with rocks and lead piping and thrown overboard from a boat on Coniston Water. The body landed on an underwater ledge where it was later found by amateur divers. Had it landed a few metres further from the shore, it would probably never have been discovered.

There was a great deal of controversy surrounding the case. Gordon received much support from his family and friends and maintained his innocence. There was a large amount of local interest in the trial as shown by the sales of the local paper, the North-West Evening Mail. Some claimed that much of the evidence against him could be discounted and there were vigils and petitions in attempts to free Gordon from prison and clear his name. The case featured prominently in the book No Smoke – The Shocking Truth About British Justice which outlined seven cases the author believed to be examples of innocent people being convicted of murder.